David Peters
David Peters win the 2019 US Poker Open Main Event and Championship (photo: Drew Amato/Poker Central)

David Peters, one of the game’s top tournament poker players, emerged victorious atop the 33-entry field in the 2019 US Poker Open $100,000 Main Event. Peters was the last man standing from an elite field of players and claimed the $1.32 million first-place prize. With the victory, Peters grabbed 350 points at surged to the top of the US Poker Open Championship leaderboard, beating out Sean Winter by just 10 points to win the overall title and an additional $100,000 in prize money.

Final Table Results

  1. David Peters – $1,320,000
  2. Chris Hunichen – $858,000
  3. Keith Tilston – $528,000
  4. Martin Zamani – $330,000
  5. Ryan Riess – $264,000

To claim the overall USPO Championship, Peters cashed three times in the high-stakes series. He placed second in Event #4: $10,000 Short Deck for $100,800 and fifth in Event #9: $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em for $164,000 ahead of his Main Event victory. All told, Peters earned $1.584 million from his three USPO cashes this year and $1.684 million total when you include the $100,000 championship prize.

Peters entered the final day fourth in chips with nine players remaining in the $100,000 Main Event. Leading the way was Chris Hunichen, and Keith Tilston, last year’s USPO Main Event winner, was in second. Only the top five places were set to reach the money, but that wasn’t the story.

Sean Winter entered the 2019 USPO Main Event as the leaderboard frontrunner. He’d need to cash and fade Nick Schulman. If he failed to cash, Winter would be sweating both Schulman and Peters if they were still in.

First to bust was Schulman, though, knocking him out of contention for the USPO Championship. He entered the day as the shortest stack and couldn’t make anything happen on the final day. Schulman was eliminated in ninth place by Hunichen.

With Schulman’s bust, all Winter needed to do was cash and he’d lock up the overall USPO title. If he didn’t cash, Peters could overtake him by the narrow margin of 10 points if Peters were to win the event.

As it turned out, Winter went bust in eighth place when his AcTc couldn’t win a flip against Tilston’s 5s5d. That left Winter without a payday in the $100,000 buy-in Main Event and sitting and waiting to see how Peters would perform.

Peters got a boost when he knocked out Jason Koon in seventh place, and then Ryan Riess took out Justin Bonomo in sixth place to send the final five players into the money. After Bonomo’s bust, Peters found a double through Hunichen and found himself sitting second in chips heading into a break.

Falling in fifth was Riess. He went out at the hands of Tilston and took home $264,000 for his efforts. It was then Martin Zamani hitting the rail in fourth for $330,000. Zamani was also knocked out by Tilston, as the 2018 USPO Main Event winner stretched his lead.

After Zamani busted, Peters played an incredibly important pot with his tournament life on the line. He was all in preflop with the KdQc against Tilston, who had the 8d8c. Not only was Peters sweating his tournament life in the 2019 USPO Main Event, but Winter had a lot on the line, too. Peters flopped a queen and held from there to score a big double and move into the chip lead.

From that point on, Peters never relinquished the lead. He busted Tilston in third place with his Ac6c held up against Tilston’s KcQs and took a chip lead of 4.855 million to 1.745 million into heads-up play against Hunichen.

Heads-up play didn’t last long. Just a few hands in, Hunichen limped the button with the Ah8c at blinds of 40,000-80,000 with an 80,000 big blind ante. Peters raised out of the big bling to 320,000 with the 9c9c. Hunichen responded by three-bet jamming for 2.65 million and Peters quickly made the call. The flop, turn, and river ran out JcJhTs8d6d and that was the end of the line for Hunichen, who earned $858,000 for his runner-up performance.

USPO Final Standings

PLAYER CASHES PRIZE MONEY POINTS
1. David Peters 3 $747,400 550
2. Sean Winter 5 $705,950 540
3. Stephen Chidwick 4 $390,000 540
4. Nick Schulman 2 $314,750 410
5. Brandon Adams 3 $897,200 365
6. Koray Aldemir 2 $580,200 340
7. Cary Katz 3 $477,000 340
8. Chris Hunichen 2 $263,400 285
9. Martin Zamani 3 $206,200 280
10. Keith Tilston 2 $442,500 255

2019 US Poker Open Event Recaps

Stephen Chidwick Wins US Poker Open Event #1 for $216K
Jordan Cristos Takes Down US Poker Open Event #2 for $179K
Lauren Roberts Comes From Behind to Win US Poker Open Event #3
Sean Winter Wins U.S. Poker Open Short Deck Event for $151K
Ali Imsirovic Cruises To Victory in US Poker Open Event #5
Stephen Chidwick Wins Second 2019 USPO Event; Now Leads USPO Race
Bryn Kenney Crushes US Poker Open Event #7 For $450,000
Nick Schulman Wins 2019 US Poker Open 8-Game Mix Title
Koray Aldemir Tops Ryan Riess to Win US Poker Open Event #9, $738K